


A Brother Less

by teamfreefish (team_free_fish)



Series: Summer Rain and Bittersweet Clouds [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Brother Feels, Dirk/Dave are brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 23:19:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/team_free_fish/pseuds/teamfreefish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One shot, Strider brothers fighting, that occurs during the timeline of SRABC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brother Less

Dave was fed up with Dirk’s shit. Ever since their dad left, Dirk had tried to be the older brother, despite doing a really shitty job at it. He was only 2 years older, and Dave felt he was trying to impose upon his life far more than a guy who in retrospect, was the same age as him should. But it wasn’t just the controlling aspect, it was the creepy puppets, forcing Dave to learn martial arts, th use of irony was cool up to a certain point, until it became an all-encompassing lifestyle where the boundaries between irony and regular things became hazy and it just began to piss Dave off. There was a time when Dave thought his brother was the coolest person that ever existed. But then he grew up.

So maybe it was the never being there while still trying to be father that got Dave most, but in his own terms, Dirk was trying to be a father and utterly failing, while forgetting that he could at least be a half-decent brother. Or at least, that’s what he was screaming. Whenever Dave had a personal problem, it wasn’t like he could go to his brother. His brother wasn’t there for him, just pretended to take care of him. Had rules and the best advice he could give was always along the lines of “suck it up.”

This caused Dave to want to spend more time at other people’s houses rather than his own apartment, which Karkat was nice about, so Dave spent a majority of his time with Karkat, so long as Karkat wasn’t working. It was a temporary solution, but it seemed to work. Dave assumed Dirk didn’t care because it was the only time he had ever seen Dirk smile. He knew it was because of Jade’s brother, but still, he was so distracted he probably wouldn’t have noticed, anyway. The solution was temporary because things started having an increasingly negative and stressful atmosphere, as Dirk began to lose the smile, and began to lose the general happiness he possesed around Jake; eventually Dave snapped and the brothers went on to have a massive fight.

It was more one sided, really. Dave shouted abuse at Dirk, and Dirk tried to put on a straight face and take it, even when things got more physically intense fight-wise. Dave was attacking Dirk, however the only damage done to Dave were the bruises left by Dirk defending himself. The fight was short, and ended badly. It hurt Dirk more than he would have ever shown. Dave spent that night at Karkat’s, and the following few nights at a cheap motel downtown until Dave could find a new apartment.

His final words to Dirk were, “Stop pretending to be my father, and most of all,” the was a pause a Dave forced the angry words out, “stop pretending to be my brother.” He then walked out the door, went downstairs, out the lobby, out to the streets of downtown, and finally taking a bus where he would get off near Karkat’s place.

It wasn’t the first time Dave had hurt Dirk, this just hurt the most. Dave never had much consideration for Dirk’s feelings, mostly because Dirk rarely showed them, and also because there was always a bit of a distance between them. Dirk sincerely tried to be a good brother. He wanted Dave to have a good life. He tried as hard as he could. He tried, the only way that he could, despite his apparent utter failure to actually succeed. But life’s not about trying. It’s about what actually get’s done.

When Dave was younger, Dirk gave him a pair of glasses matching his own. Dave wore them everywhere. Hardly ever took them off. Until his little crush named John gave him a pair of Ben Stiller aviators. Dirk was fine with that. The glasses weren’t super important and they were probably a bit old at that point. But it wasn’t that he had taken John’s glasses without a single thought of the sentimental glasses Dirk had given him. It was when Dave snapped them. One day, when Dave was upset at Dirk about something or another. Dave was yelling, then he fell silent. He went to his room, got the glasses, came back out, and snapped them. He left the pieces on the ground, and walked out the door. He and Dave were never really as close after that. There was always a weird vibe between them. More distant. Now, it was probably going to be the case that they would grow apart to the point of not even bothering to communicate anymore until they see each twenty years later and pass by awkwardly just to avoid interaction. Dirk believed he deserved it, anyway.

He felt the inevitable collapse of his relationship coming. In the case of Jake, maybe he was too desperate and clingy, In the case of Dave, maybe he was too distant. Either way, he couldn’t get himself out of those positions. His relationships were bound to end and that was that. The people closest to him hated him, and he hated him, and all that was left for him was the slow decay of his life into nothing but the puppets that littered his room, shitty orange soda in the fridge, and the silent rap battles with himself as his shitty existence became more pointless and less bearable.

Dirk went to take a shower.


End file.
